Q.What are antibiotics?
Step 1. The unit's own classification-based-on-pharmacological-effect section (15.1.1) gives this exact example: "the medicines that have the ability to kill the pathogenic bacteria are grouped as antibiotics".
Step 2. Section 15.1.3.7 (Antimicrobials) then works through five specific antibiotic families -- beta-lactams, macrolides, fluoroquinolones, tetracyclines, aminoglycosides -- each attacking a different bacterial process (cell-wall biosynthesis, ribosomal protein synthesis, or DNA gyrase).
Step 3. So an antibiotic is defined by its EFFECT (kills/stops bacterial growth), while the family it belongs to is defined by its specific MECHANISM against the bacterium.
Antibiotics are medicines grouped together by the pharmacological effect they produce: the ability to kill pathogenic bacteria (or stop their growth). Examples from the unit's Antimicrobials table span several chemical families -- beta-lactams (penicillins, ampicillin, cephalosporins), macrolides (erythromycin, azithromycin), fluoroquinolones (ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin), tetracyclines (doxycycline, oxytetracycline) and aminoglycosides (kanamycin, gentamicin) -- each disabling bacteria through a different specific mechanism (cell-wall synthesis, ribosomal protein synthesis, DNA replication).
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